


Heading to the Highland Games

by kingsmanpointssouth



Category: Kingsman (Movies)
Genre: Eggsy and Roxy only make a brief appearance, M/M, Merlin just wants to have a good time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-03
Updated: 2018-02-03
Packaged: 2019-03-13 04:43:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,097
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13563069
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kingsmanpointssouth/pseuds/kingsmanpointssouth
Summary: Hamish just wants to go to the Highland Games and have a good time. No one knows about his trips there until Harry is sent on a mission and finds him participating at the event.





	Heading to the Highland Games

Hamish was 20 when he first tried out for the Highland Games, years before he had even heard of Kingsman. When he wasn’t attending his classes and studying at university, he was usually working as a trainer in the university gym to help pay for his studies. 

One day one of his trainee’s was making small talk with him while lifting weights, and was telling Hamish how his family was headed to the Highland Games for a few days to watch the competition and enjoy themselves.

His family vacation got Hamish thinking about going to participate himself. He was definitely in shape enough, and it should be a good time. It had been awhile since he did something for himself anyway.

Before heading to the games, Hamish had to go into town to get a kilt made. There was no way that he would be competing in a kilt that did not match his clan. Once he got to shop, they helped him find his tartan pattern and ordered a kilt in his size for him that would get there later in the week. 

Once he got to the games, Hamish signed up for the junior amatuer division caber toss and the hammer toss. There was an area to the side for practice, and that is what he spent the afternoon doing. 

The next day he competed in the hammer toss, and came in 20th. For a first timer, that was exceptionally good, and Hamish was proud of himself. When he did the caber toss, he came in 17th. While there he made a few friends and was able to enjoy not only participating in the events, but watching the other events, dancing, and traditional music.

Everyone there was wonderful and excited to be participating in Scottish traditions, and Hamish couldn’t help but get caught up in the spirit too. While heading back to school, he decided that he would try to go every year that he could, whether it was to participate or just to watch and enjoy the events. 

A few years later the newly named Emrys didn’t know if he would be able to make it to the games, but he really wanted to so that he could catch up with his friends that he saw there every year. When he asked Merlin for a weekend off, he expected to hear a ‘no,’ but was delightfully surprised when Merlin granted him the time off.

The next year when he became Merlin, Hamish did not need the permission to take off the time, he just let Arthur know that he would be taking a few days personal time and that he would make sure that the tech department would be able to handle running missions while he was gone. Arthur was reluctant to allow this, but finally agreed when Merlin said that he would be on call and would come back immediately if need be.

No one ever questioned what Merlin did in the one weekend he took off a year since they knew they would receive nothing beyond an icy stare and silence. One of the tech’s asked once, and they all decided to never do that again when Merlin decided to give the entire department a lecture on why it was impolite to ask him about his personal time and that they should be focusing on preparing upcoming missions and working on weapon designs instead of gossiping.

It was in the late 80’s when Merlin went to the games and Kingsman heard that there would be an assassination attempt on a government official that was rumored to be attending. Since assassination attempts were so common, the mission didn’t even make it to Merlin’s desk since he was scheduled to have time off. Agent Galahad was sent to the Highland Games to stop the attempt and make sure that no one found out about it.

What Harry did not expect to see when scoping the crowds for the official, was Merlin waiting in line to participate dressed in a traditional kilt. After taking a moment to process this revelation, a smirk made its way across Harry’s face as he went to take a photo of what could turn out to be a wonderful way to coerce Merlin into making some new gadgets. They may be good friends, but Harry was not one to pass up this good of an opportunity, and luckily, every other person in the crowd was taking photos, so no one would think it suspicious of him to be doing the same.

After taking the photos, Harry got back to his task of locating the government official. Luckily for him, he was watching the event Merlin was participating in, so Harry would be able to look out for an attacker while enjoying Merlin participating in the caber toss. Watching Merlin step up to take the caber, Harry started to sweat as he noticed just how fit Merlin was, with his muscles fully defined as he the caber and flung it as though it were a twig.

Harry felt proud, and slightly turned on, when his friend came in 3rd for the event. After seeing him get his medal, he disappeared into the crowd to go finish the job. A few hours later, Harry had found the assassin and took him out. Emrys, who was guiding Galahad’s mission, told him that he was all set to return, but Harry would be late by several hours because he had a friend to go talk to.

After sneaking up behind Merlin and absolutely not scaring him, Harry told him that he did a great job and that it was great that he came to participate in the games.

Hamish was a little embarrassed that Harry had to find out like this, but extremely thankful that he wasn’t telling him that it was stupid or what a stereotype he was for participating in the Highland Games. 

In the following years, Merlin would continue to take a weekend off in the spring, and if Harry was home and wasn’t working on a mission, he would join him in going to the games and cheering him on.

Years later, Eggsy and Roxy would join Harry in the crowds cheering for Hamish as he threw the caber and the hammer. Harry would never grow tired of seeing him in a kilt, muscles rippling as he threw heavy objects around like they were nothing. And if he was especially pleased when he saw a flash of gold on Hamish’s hand while he was throwing, well, that was his business.

**Author's Note:**

> Mark Strong works out a lot and this is the product of me constantly seeing posts about that.


End file.
